Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Born as Steveland Judkins on May 13, 1950 in Saginaw, Michingan, Wonder now prefers to be knows as Steveland Morris after his mothers married name. Placed in an incubator immediately after his birth, Wonder was given too much oxygen, causing him to suffer permanent blindness. Despite his handicap, Wonder began to learn the piano at the age of seven, and had also mastered drums and harmonica by the age of nine. After his family moved to Detroit in 1954, Wonder joined a church choir, the gospel influence on his music balanced by the R&B of Ray Charles an Sam Cooke being played on his transistor radio.
Wonder was discovered in 1961 by Ronnie White of the Miracles, who also arranged an audition for him in Motown Record. Berry Gory immediately signed Wonder to the label, that led to the birth of “Little Stevie Wonder.” Though, the ?Little? was dropped in 1964. Wonder was placed in the care of writer/producer Clarence Paul, who supervised his early recordings.
Wonder and his label hit the jackpot in 1963 with “Fingertips-Pt. 2.” This made Motown quickly marketed him on a series of albums as ?the 12-year-old genius? in an attempt to link him
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